diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
index a35d2380eded..9c3024ce25fb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # HACK, see #10874 (and 14664)
   buildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isLinux && !hostPlatform.isCygwin) libiconv;
 
+  setupHook = ./gettext-setup-hook.sh;
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/gettext-setup-hook.sh b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/gettext-setup-hook.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fe3ef1f9e15d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/gettext-setup-hook.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+gettextDataDirsHook() {
+    if [ -d "$1/share/gettext" ]; then
+        addToSearchPath GETTEXTDATADIRS "$1/share/gettext"
+    fi
+}
+
+envHooks+=(gettextDataDirsHook)